The usually cautious Chilean sounded optimistic about City’s prospects of regaining the title they won in 2012.

The former Malaga boss has spent around £90 million on Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic as he has moved to improve a group who finished second in the league and were runners-up in the FA Cup under his predecessor, Roberto Mancini, last term.

“I think we have the best squad in England. We bought four important players, we already had a very good team and with these four players I think we improved a lot," Pellegrini said at the club’s awards night.

“We have been working very hard in pre-season, and we have another nine days before we start the Premier League. We hope that from the first match against Newcastle at home we will start winning, and we will try to bring another trophy here.”

Captain Vincent Kompany believes “the sky is the limit” for City and says the squad is determined to make up for their disappointments last year.

“I think every single player here is buying into the culture of this club,” he said. “The sky is the limit. We are working so hard for us to achieve everything.

“We are dying to come back and start this season, we’ve got so much to prove and we’re all looking forward to it. We’ve got a great team; I really think that at the end of this year we are going to achieve what we are setting out to with our targets.”

Pablo Zabaleta was presented with City’s Player of the Year award, while Matija Nastasic won the young player prize and Sergio Aguero picked up the trophy for scoring the best goal, in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool last February.